Every Midnight Moo tells the story of local people stepping up for their local hospice. Below we’re sharing just a few. Why do you Moo?
Tara’s Midnight Moo memory quilt
Tara decided to stitch the memories of her Midnight Moo together. Moo T-shirts are real collectors items!
“I first took part in the Midnight Moo in 2011, shortly after taking up power walking as a form of exercise with some friends. It felt like a great event to bring people together and for a worthy cause.
“After such a good night, we returned each year. I learnt more about the wonderful work the Hospice do, through the experiences of two friends who both received wonderful care and comfort there towards the end of their lives.
“The quilt came about from the desire to do something creative with all the T-shirts I had accumulated over the years of participating in many running and walking events.
“I love sewing and upcycling textiles, so it seemed a waste to leave them in the back of the wardrobe when I could give them a new lease of life as a memory quilt. Once cut up and arranged I used my overlocker sewing machine to put them all together. Overall, the quilt took me about a week to complete.”
Margaret’s first ever Midnight Moo
We chatted to Margaret following her Midnight Moo raffle win last year. She shared her reasons for taking part in her very first Moo.
“Well, I mean the reason for doing the Moo is that it’s on my son’s birthday and he died of cancer. So he didn’t make it to Willen because he died really, really quickly. Within three weeks of being diagnosed. But he would have come here. And it’s a lovely place. So I just thought it’s a lovely cause and a great way to mark his birthday really, with my daughter. We walked together. My son would have been 41 this year. He died at 36, five years ago.
“It is my first Midnight Moo. I’ve seen it before and thought about it, but it came up on Facebook and because it was his birthday, I thought that would be a lovely thing to do. I always try and mark his birthday in some way. And I thought doing it with my daughter, Tina, as well was just a great way to mark it. He would have approved. It’s a good cause.
“I thought it was brilliant. It was really good fun. It’s a serious cause that we’re collecting money for, but absolutely everyone threw themselves into it. All the dressing up and wearing light-up things! I only did 5 miles. Because I’d done a 9-mile walk on holiday before that and I did something to my knee. I don’t know quite what, but it wasn’t recovered, so I got to 5 miles and I was aching a bit, so I thought maybe I’ll stop. But it was a lovely thing to do.
When you were walking, as you went past a bit that was going uphill, you could see all the lights in front of you. I tried to take pictures but that didn’t do it justice. We didn’t take any but some people turned up with all the lights on their backpacks. And lots of tu-tu skirts, and men in tu-tu skirts! It was absolutely brilliant.”
If you are new to Moo in 2024, you are joining the 15th herd to take on the sponsored 5 or 10 mile walk for their local hospice. Read 15 years of Moo-thanks to you.
Emily’s Moo in memory of her husband, Simon
Emily is one this year’s Midnight-moo’ers. She’s walking in memory of her husband.
In January last year, Emily’s husband Simon was diagnosed with a fast-growing brain tumour at the age of 52. Simon spent the last 11 days of his life in our In-Patient Unit, receiving compassionate care and support. Emily was so moved by the love and support both Si, herself and her family received from our amazing colleagues at Willen Hospice, that she will be walking the Midnight Moo with her friends to help raise funds and to say ‘thank you’.
Emily was kind enough to share her story with us. Read Emily’s story.
For us to care for people like Simon and Emily’s in the future, we kindly ask all participants to raise £100 through sponsorship. Of course, you don’t have to take part or know someone who is to help us fundraise £100,000, please donate here if you can.
Sign up online by 2359 on Tuesday 9th July.
